CES 2018: Putting a Battery Inside a Laptop Sleeveis a Brilliant Idea

All your gadgets rely on batteries, and all batteries suck. Trying to keep all of your toys perpetually charged is the biggest downside of a gadget addiction, but there are ways to cope, like using Incase’s new Connected Power Sleeve to protect and power your MacBook Pro.

As gadgets go, the Connected Power Sleeve initially seems like another example of “let’s stick a radio in a toaster” innovation. But you’re not going to find a single MacBook Pro user, or any laptop user, who complains about their computer’s battery lasting too long. Until batteries last forever, laptop users will always be stressed about their machines dying when they’re away from a power outlet.

Will Incase’s new Connected Power Sleeve keep your MacBook Pro running indefinitely? No, not even close. But tucked away at one end of the sleeve is a generous 14,000 mAh battery and a USB-C port that will give your MBP a complete recharge while you’re on the road, or stuck in an airport lounge competing for outlets.

The sleeve includes an older USB port allowing you to charge other gadgets with the case, as well as a short USB-C cable hidden away under an access panel so you’ll never find yourself lacking one. Unfortunately, speaking to a representative from Incase, the Connected Power Sleeve isn’t designed to charge your MacBook Pro while it’s buried away in your backpack. Concerns over keeping the laptop snug and protected while inside the sleeve, and the risk of a drop damaging charging ports while a USB-C cable is connected, means you can only charge your MacBook Pro when it’s outside the case.

When it’s available sometime later this year, the Incase Connected Power Sleeve will come in two versions for the 13-inch and 15-inch versions of the MacBook Pro, but both will sell for $200. That’s a hefty price tag for a battery of that size, and even more so for a laptop sleeve. But I’ll probably think differently the next time my MacBook Pro drops below 10 percent battery life and I start to panic. [Incase]